Thank you again, everyone, for reading! I really appreciate all of your feedback, follows, favorites, etc. Thank you all so, so much!

Sworn to Darkness

CHAPTER X

Coruscant was not what it was. Not even the close. However, neither was it changed. Rather, it was new. No longer was this planet the weakly beating pulse of a crumbling society. No longer was it a flickering candlelight about to be snuffed out by a much fiercer wind, swallowed by a much stronger darkness. No longer were its eyes blurred by pride and blinded by shadow. Now, the planet and the shadow were at peace. No longer was Coruscant threatened by the dark, because Coruscant was the dark. It was not dying anymore. It was not weak anymore. It was not governed by a pitiful band of arrogant cowards, who feared what they could not understand, anymore. It was not Coruscant anymore. It was the Imperial Center.

The Emperor of the galaxy stood before a glassless window in a chamber that was once the Chancellor's Office but was now a dictator's throne room. A cool breeze came through the opening in the wall, rushing into the chamber, and the folds of his cloak flapped like a black flag. He looked out on the city—his city. His empire.

The Galactic City was a peace tonight. At last, smoke had stopped rising from the remains of toppled buildings. Blood had stopped running like rivers down the streets. Air traffic was allowed resumed. See? He had brought peace to the galaxy. No matter what his enemies might say.

Yet, peace is not free. Security is never free. The price is paid in blood. Even the Empire could not avoid this cost.

Emperor Palpatine sighed as he looked out at the dark city, whose lights glowed like thousands of lidless eyes watching from within the gloom. Not a moon or star was visible in the black sky. Darkness consumed the planet. Darkness was the very soul of the planet. The soul of the galaxy. It had engulfed the Light, which was no more. Yet, even the Darkness had suffered a painful loss.

He turned his back on the now-glassless window—it was shattered just before he killed Mace Windu—and turned to face his new apprentice. His three new apprentices, actually. This was a new age, after all. A new era of the galaxy. A new era of the Sith. Tonight would mark history. Tonight, the Lord of Darkness would venture into a domain that no Sith dared enter before.

"As I'm sure you are all aware," Palpatine's rasping, crackling voice spoke from under that dark hood, that mask of shadow, "the tradition has long been upheld that there be only two Sith at time: a master and an apprentice. However, the Sith are unlike the Jedi, and we do not fear what we do not know. We do not fear risk. We do not oppose change. The entire galaxy is changing, and the Sith will change with it. We will grow in size and in strength."

Eyes of strange gold, rimmed with red, beheld his new students, who stood before him like soldiers, ready to execute orders. "My last apprentice," Palpatine continued grimly, "was the strongest Sith I have ever encountered. He was the very incarnate of the Force… He would have served the Empire well…

"But even he was defeated. He was sent to Mustafar on a mission, and he never returned. Only his legs and one of his arms were discovered on the slopes of a volcano." He paused for a moment to reminisce this painful loss—this deep wound in the Sith's power. "Although the Jedi are few," he warned the other Sith, "do not underestimate them. All of you should take caution, as even the mighty Darth Vader was killed by a Jedi."

Palpatine stared into the darkness around him and thought. The mighty Darth Vader. The strongest Jedi he ever encountered. The most ambitious man he ever knew. The most powerful Sith Lord who ever lived. No more than severed limbs and ash.

"It will take all three of you to match his power," Palpatine said gravely. The tallest of them—a human male, young, about as old as Lord Vader had been, slick blonde hair, eyes pale like ice, a pompous expression on an arrogant face, a scent that reeked of malice, a heart as hard as stone, and a soul that craved power as a beast caves blood: a man called Zelus—stood a bit straighter and held his chin a bit higher when the Emperor said this. Both skepticism and jealousy flashed in his serpentine eyes.

"Several Jedi are still missing," Palpatine went on, his tone changing to become urgent but also eager. Hungry. "Although I expect many of them to turn up dead—or that their corpses have simply become unidentifiable—I am certain at least a few are still alive. Amongst them, I have no doubt, is Obi-Wan Kenobi." A murderous thirst for vengeance—a flame from which a Sith could extract great power—ignited Palpatine's soul and sparked in his eyes. "He is likely the Jedi who killed Lord Vader. Your first mission will be to hunt him down and kill him. Once he is dead, we will likewise find and destroy whatever pitiful cowards that call themselves Jedi remain."

As they bowed their heads to their master and began to murmur their understanding, beyond the walls of this chamber, they could hear a pair of heavy metal doors sliding open. The Sith turned, prepared to face anything that might try to enter. Zelus reached for his weapon—a blaster, as he did not yet know how to construct a lightsaber. "Someone's coming," he said in a voice as cold and barren as the frostbitten winter.

Palpatine shook his head faintly, unconcerned. "It doesn't matter. No one is coming to trouble us. The doors of this chamber cannot be opened except by the Force, and even still it would take a very powerful Sith lord."

As if on cue—what was extremely ironic and slightly humiliating for the Sith Lord—he had barely finished saying this when the metal doors of the chamber—which were apparently sealed with the power of the Dark Side and impossible to breach—slid open, as easily as the doors of an elevator, which open at the touch of a bottom. It was only too obvious: whoever had opened those doors had done it without effort. Now Palpatine was concerned.

However, when he cast his flaming eyes across the chamber to stare at the now-gaping doorway, his concern vanished. At once, it was gone and replaced with shock. Astonishment. Doubt. Disbelief. Delight.

A man clad in black strode boldly through the doors. The hood of his cloak covered his head and cast a shadow over his face. Still, in what little luminance filled this murky chamber, Palpatine could see that unmistakable face. A face as warm as ice and as merciful as stone; an expression that radiated anger and drank up desire for revenge; cold eyes that smoldered like fire. Without hesitating for even a faction of a second, the stranger entered and approached the Emperor. "I apologize for being late, Master," Darth Vader said coolly. "I got held up." He lowered his hood and bowed to the Lord of the Sith.

"Lord Vader!" Palpatine exclaimed in sheer amazement. A toothy smile twisted itself across his hideously deformed face—a face Anakin once recognized. A face Anakin once knew and trusted. The face of a man Anakin once loved.

Darth Vader beheld the Emperor evenly, his face a mask, not a thought or feeling visible in his eyes. I'm going to kill you, Anakin thought calmly. He was calm, because, although he did not know what was going to happen, he knew how it was going to end: He was going to kill Palpatine.

Palpatine had abandoned his new apprentices—it seemed he forgot them entirely—and rushed forward to meet the Chosen One. He reached out his old, shriveled hands and fervently grasped Anakin by the arm. Despite what one might have expected from looking at the old man, the Sith's grip was strong. Like durasteel. "I am more than a little surprised to see you!" he cried, something hideous that Anakin guessed was supposed to be a smile but what looked more like the sneer of a demon stretched across his lips. Palpatine's eyes flicked to observe the black glove he gripped in his hands. He looked back at Anakin and smiled. "Especially in one piece."

"It'll take more than a Jedi to kill me," Vader growled through his teeth.

Palpatine could hear the resentment, the utter hatred, in his young apprentice's voice. Hatred for the Jedi who took his limbs. Palpatine could feel it burning like magma in Vader's soul. Hotter than fire. More dangerous than lava. Just waiting to erupt like the volcanos of Mustafar.

Only, Palpatine was mistake about whom this hatred was for. It was not hatred for Obi-Wan. It was not hatred for the Jedi. It was hatred for the Emperor. Uttermost loathing, sheer detestation for the man who would have had him murder his own brother.

Anakin allowed himself a moment to look Palpatine in the eye, and he savored it. You like betrayal? You like murder? Good, because I'm going to kill you. You just wait. I will kill you.

"Certainly it will," Palpatine agreed, nodding slowly in approval, looking his apprentice up and down, in awe of what he saw. "And the Sith will have their vengeance on the Jedi."

Vengeance? Anakin could have laughed if he was not so outraged. Vengeance for what!? The Sith attacked the Jedi! The Sith are the murderers! The Sith are the ones who should fear vengeance.

"That I can promise you, Lord Vader."

No, that I can promise you, Emperor. The Jedi will have their revenge on the Sith.

Vader nodded gravely. A wicked gleam appeared in his eyes, and a chilling smile formed on his mouth. "I look forward to it, Master."

Anakin turned his head and, for the first time, noticed the other three Sith—or, would-be-Sith—amongst them. (Until now, he was too busy envisioning his lightsaber plunging into Palpatine's chest to take note of them.) Aside from Zelus, there was another man called Immitis. He was taller than Anakin, which was saying quite at lot, and more muscular than any human he had seen. In short, the man was a giant. His muscles looked like they could crush steel and his hands like they could crush a man's skull. Yet, Anakin was not intimidated in the least.

The third was a creature Anakin at first mistook to be human, but upon second glance he could see he was wrong. It stood on two legs like a man, but it hunched forward slightly like a beast. It looked like it might drop down on its four limbs, at any moment, and crawl. Its hands were like claws, as so were its bare feet. It was very thin, a skeleton with a thin layer of leathery skin over its bones. Its face was almost human, but it was something like a bat's, and its eyes… at least in this dim lighting, completely black. Anakin had no name for the being he saw before him. It must have been an alien of some sort, but, when Anakin looked at it, the only word he could think of was demon. This creature was called Petiuit.

Anakin frowned, as grimness gathered in his chest like storm clouds in the sky. It seemed Obi-Wan was right. Palpatine had found a new apprentice already. But not just one. He had found three. As if he planned to breed a Sith army.

"What's this?" the apprentice asked his master, as he looked darkly on the other three and did not try to hide his disapproval.

"Ah," Palpatine seemed to be noticing them for the first time, as well. "These are new generals in our armies, Lord Vader. They will be placed under your command, of course."

"What?" the young man, Zelus, objected before Anakin could respond. His reaction was strangely similar to that reaction of Anakin Skywalker when the Jedi Council informed him that he could not be a Master. "We were to be Sith Lords, not just generals! We were to be your apprentices!"

"And so you were," Palpatine replied, unfazed. "…Before Lord Vader returned." He put a hand on Anakin's shoulder and grasped it fondly. "I have my apprentice."

"This…" Zelus breathed, fury brewing in his voice like thunder in the clouds before lightning splits the sky. "This is outrageous."

"This is what I have decided," Palpatine answered without sympathy. "And you will obey my command."

The man's face was deep red. The veins on his neck were pulsing with wrath. He looked at the Emperor with rage. Loathing. Hatred. Anakin could feel this man's hatred radiating out of him as flaming light radiates from a sun. He could feel it, as if it was burning him. He could feel how strong it was. Zelus would have made a fine Sith lord.

"I will obey your command, my lord," Zelus spoke in a low growl. "But I will not take orders from this— this boy!"

Palpatine opened his mouth, anger flashing through his eyes. However, it was not the Emperor's voice that spoke next. It was a voice as cold as ice and as lethal as fire. Even as bold as he was, Zelus felt a chill pass through him when the Sith Lord spoke to him.

"How dare you…" Darth Vader hissed. He stepped forward, between the Emperor and the general, and stood directly in front of Zelus, glowering down at him, his eyes penetrating him as if they could burn him. "How dare you speak against your Emperor!"

Zelus stared back into the Sith's dark eyes. He refused to be intimidated. He refused to back down. He spoke in a low voice, "I'm not afraid of y—"

He choked.

Something like an invisible hand—a hand of iron—closed around his throat, and he could not breathe. Zelus's hand shot instinctively to his neck, and he clutched at it, frantically trying to free himself of whatever was wrapping around his throat, strangling him. Nothing was there. He continued to gasp and sputter in bewilderment and fear, unable to speak, unable to breathe, for several seconds before he realized: it was the hand of Darth Vader that was choking him.

Although Vader was not touching him, the black-gloved hand by his side was clenched in almost a complete fist, as if squeezing something invisible. Zelus understood. It was the Force coiling around his neck like a snake, constricting and strangling him. It was the Dark Side, at the command of Darth Vader.

Hatred burned in Vader's eyes. "You should be," he said in a calm, but chillingly dangerous, tone. "You should be."

Anakin was not pretending when he made this murderous vowel. He watched the man gag and gasp for breath and suffocate and suffer before him, andAnakin felt about as much pity for him as Darth Vader would have. He did not feel pity. He did not show mercy. Because Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were one. Although he had renounced it, the Dark Side was still in him. It was still a part of him.

And Anakin was not afraid of it. He would not run from it. He would not even fight it. He would use it. Like a Sith, he would embrace the Dark Side. Like a Jedi, he would destroy it. He would turn it against itself. He would force the serpent to sinks its fangs into its own flesh, and it would die choking on its own poison.

"I could kill you now," Vader said in a callous, almost mocking tone. In fact… He turned his head and met the Emperor's eyes. "Master?" he asked evenly, ready to obey Palpatine's command. If the Emperor said, Kill him, Anakin had every intension of obeying. One Sith down, three to go.

Palpatine hesitated. "He may still be of use to us, Lord Vader," he said after a moment.

"Too bad," said Anakin. (Palpatine was pleased to hear the disappointment in his apprentice's voice.) Anakin opened his palm, and let the man go.

Zelus stumbled forward, grabbing at his neck, gasping to draw air into his empty lungs. When, at last, he managed to catch his breath, he dared to look at Vader again. There was a new fear—but also a new hatred—in his eyes, as he beheld the mighty Sith Lord. A man who could snuff the life out of him with a simple clutching of his fist.

Anakin met his eyes. I will kill you, he thought calmly. I will kill you all. You deserve it.

Such thoughts, he realized, were the thoughts of a Sith, not a Jedi. However… he was no Jedi.

"Leave us," Emperor Palpatine said to Zelus and the other two generals, who had watched all of this in silent trepidation. "I will speak with my apprentice alone."

Immitis and Petiuit did not hesitate to bow in submission and hurry from the chamber. Zelus looked at the Master, then at the apprentice, then at the Emperor again. He bowed reluctantly. "Yes, my lord," he grumbled under his breath, and he followed the others out. Darth Vader raised one hand, as if waving at the ominous doorway, and the metal doors closed, trapping everything out. He and the Sith Lord were alone.

Palpatine smiled and then started to laugh. "Darth Vader!" he beamed, coming toward Anakin with open arms. It took every ounce of control Anakin had to stand there and allow this man—this monster—whom he would have loved to strangle and kill at this very second, to wrap his arms around him and embrace him. Like a friend. Like a son. "I am delighted to see you, my young apprentice!" Palpatine released Anakin from his grip—Anakin's tense muscles relaxed. "Although I never meant to doubt your power, I must admit I feared that you had been killed on Mustafar."

"Mustafar was… unfortunate," Anakin said slowly. Carefully.

Palpatine's face suddenly became very dark. He lowered his voice to a raspy whisper, and spoke with hatred and blood-thirst, "Tell me, Lord Vader. Was it Kenobi?"

Anakin took a steady breath before he replied. Here it was. Here was his chance to protect Obi-Wan.

"Kenobi is dead, Master," Anakin said emotionlessly.

Palpatine looked shocked. "Dead?" He raised his scarred brow, a gesture which distorted his face even more hideously. "You are sure?"

"Positive," Anakin lied. "The last I saw him he was on Mustafar, drowning in a river of lava. He was a powerful Jedi, but not even the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy could have survived that."

Palpatine nodded, and a thin smile appeared on his lips. "Good," he said warmly, as if this was the happiest news he had heard in a long time. "Good! I trust you kill him, Lord Vader?"

"Yes," said Anakin. He clenched his jaws, as if in disgust, and spat, "He cut off my arm and both of my legs, but then I used the Force to push him into the lava."

"Excellent! my young apprentice. I am very pleased with you. I was foolish to think any Jedi, no matter how powerful, could have defeated you."

Anakin inclined his head. "Thank you, my Master."

"As for your arms and legs, do not be troubled," Palpatine went on, waving a hand as if losing all of your limbs was as trivial a thing as spilling your drink. "It was not a loss, but a gain. Kenobi was trying to break you, but instead he made you stronger. Limbs of durasteel are far more powerful than limbs of flesh and blood. You are now stronger than ever, Lord Vader. Physically and spiritually. And you are very strong with the Dark Side. It will not be long, I am sure, before you are strong enough to save Padmé."

Anakin's heart dropped. He remembered Obi-Wan's command: You must make him believe your wife and unborn child were killed in the attack on Coruscant. At once, his insides were squirming around like snakes. This was it. His chance to convince the Emperor. His chance to protect his family. His one, real chance to save Padmé. And to save their children.

He prayed for success.

He turned away from Palpatine. His back to the Emperor, his head lowered, and his face toward the ground, he took a deep breath. "Padmé…" he spoke in a faint, quivery voice. He stopped and closed his eyes, as if it was too painful to go on.

"Lord Vader?" he heard Palpatine say from behind him. The Emperor walked a few steps forward and came to Anakin's side, gravely beholding his apprentice's stone-cold face. Anakin did not glance at him but continued to stare at the floor. "What is it, Lord Vader? What happened?"

Anakin drew in a deep, noisy breath. The air rattled slightly as it broke through the mucus in his chest and moved through his damaged lungs and windpipe. It sounded almost as if he was about to cry, which was a very nice touch. He exhaled abruptly and forced himself to report the tragic ending of his star-crossed love affair: "Padmé is dead." He blinked his eyes hard, as if forcing back tears, and made sure his voice cracked when he finished, "She was killed in the attack on Coruscant."

"Oh…" Palpatine said quietly from beside him. "…I did not sense that in the Force…"

Anakin's heart stopped beating at Palpatine's last remark; however, a moment later, he realized Palpatine was not suspicious. Simply surprised. He did not doubt Darth Vader was telling the truth. He had no reason to doubt Darth Vader's loyalty. Not yet, anyway.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Vader," Palpatine whispered in forged sorrow. Yet, Anakin was no longer fooled by this man's phony mask. He was no longer tricked by his lies nor tempted by his false promises. He went to the devil and back in order to see the truth, yet it had opened his eyes. Anakin was no longer blinded by the Darkness. He could see through Palpatine as easily as clear water. The Emperor said, I'm so sorry, but what he meant was, Perfect.

"And the child?" asked Palpatine.

Anakin just shook his head.

Palpatine sighed. This time he might have been a little disappointed. The offspring of Anakin Skywalker would have been a powerful asset to the Sith.

"I am very sorry," he said. He put a hand on Anakin's shoulder, as if that was supposed to comfort him. "But, I assure you, we will have vengeance on every Jedi and every traitor, who are responsible for her death."

You and your clones are the ones who attacked Coruscant, you moron! Anakin wanted to shout in outrage. You would have been the one responsible for her death, not the Jedi! How stupid do you think I am!?

But, then again, Anakin had to have been pretty damn stupid to fall for all of the other pathetic lies of Palpatine, which he had believed. Besides, from here on out, it was his mission to play stupid. To play the part of Palpatine's loyal, submissive, mindless servant. To make him trust him. To make him love him. And, when the time came, to stab him in the back.

Anakin turned to face Palpatine. He looked him in the eye and nodded with determination. "We will," he agreed with certainty. "I will not stop until every one of them is destroyed."

Palpatine nodded in sinister approval. "I expected no less of you, Lord Vader. You are wise, and you are powerful. However, before we pursue the traitors, there is something I need you to do for me. Consider it a… personal favor."

Anakin frowned slightly. He did not like the sounds of this. He did not like that malicious smile forming on Palpatine's mouth. He did not like that malign gleam in his eyes. He knew this could not be good.

Vader nodded in submission. "Anything you ask, Master…"

"You are familiar with one of Coruscant's neighboring planets of Fresia?"

"Yes, Master…"

"Unfortunately, a large population of the planet has sworn unshakable loyalty to the Republic—the Republic that no longer exists. One hears whispers that they are actually planning for some sort of… rebellion."

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. Yes, these whispers were true. But they went further than Palpatine was yet aware. It was not just a large population of Fresia preparing for a rebellion. It was a large population of the galaxy.

"In fact," Palpatine went on, obvious of Anakin's unease, "I hear, in the Command Center on Fresia, they have gathered a number of Force-sensitive beings. Potential Jedi, if you believe it. Lord Vader…" Palpatine leaned closer to him. "They are trying to breed a new Jedi army, to replace the one we have destroyed."

Anakin swallowed. He spoke evenly, "What will you have me do, Master?"

"I want you to go to Fresia, enter the Command Center, and kill every living being you find inside. As for the rest of the planet, make sure they know such treachery will not be forgiven."

He nodded slowly. "I understand," he said in a voice like death: void of emotion and void of life.

Palpatine smiled. "Good, Lord Vader. Good."

Darth Vader bowed to the Emperor. Without a word, he turned his back on him and headed for the doors to leave the chamber. Before he went out, he heard Palpatine say behind him, "Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."

A chill like the breath of death cut through him. His skin was suddenly covered with goosebumps. His blood froze, and his heart became ice. He remembered the last time he heard Palpatine speak those words. Those same, exact, terrible words. It was the night he led the raid on the Jedi Temple. The night he became a murderer.